You are correct in that these fields are available to be used as reporting fields for reports and inquiries.

You are also correct in that an incorrect spelling or punctuation will cause a report or inquiry not to pick up the value. In some cases, capitalization could also be an issue.

Idea #1: Unfortunately both the Type field and the Market type fields are hard-coded as alphanumeric fields (15 characters). The title can be changed in File>Company Settings>Custom Description, but the type of field cannot be changed.

This would certainly be a good opportunity to enter an enhancement request under Help>Web Resources>Submit Enhancement Requests.

Idea #2:  A Drop-down List Box custom field is certainly a viable option and would eliminate the possibility of incorrect spelling.

Custom fields can be confusing. How they should work:

1.When you create a custom field it is stored in a dictionary file within the company folder. In this case, since it would be on the PJ Job table, the file written to will be the pjm.dct.

2.When you close out of the window after creating the custom field, you will be prompted to update the PJ master file.

3.When you upgrade this file  it the writes the addition you made to the pjm.dct in the DICT folder in the application data folder and you will get a message stating that you must run upgrade files from TS-Main>Tools>Upgrade Files to make these new fields available to other companies.

4.When you run the upgrade files, we will then write that addition from the pjm.dct in the DICT folder to the other pjm.dct files in each company that is updated.

Note: This means that the custom fields are global. The same custom fields available in one company should also be available in another. In this case, the pjm.dct should essentially be a duplicate of the pjm.dct in each company folder.

When you upgrade to the latest version:

1.The new dictionary file from the installation replaces the existing dictionary in the DICT folder. Customizations from the old dictionary are merged into the new dictionary and this new dictionary file is now in the current version.

2.When you run upgrade files on the data (same as step 4 above) the new version of the dictionary from the DICT folder replaces the dictionary file in each company folder that the upgrade is run on.

Another idea: Some customers have simplified the data entry making data entry error less likely. For example, instead of typing out “Commercial” in the Type field, you could simply enter “C”. To make your reporting more user-friendly you could replace PJ-Type field with a formula creating your description. Ex. IF(Type(PJ Job)=”C”,”Commercial”,””)

Casey Knapp

Senior Customer Support Analyst, Sage Construction and Real Estate

You are correct in that these fields are available to be used as reporting fields for reports and inquiries.

You are also correct in that an incorrect spelling or punctuation will cause a report or inquiry not to pick up the value. In some cases, capitalization could also be an issue.

Idea #1: Unfortunately both the Type field and the Market type fields are hard-coded as alphanumeric fields (15 characters). The title can be changed in File>Company Settings>Custom Description, but the type of field cannot be changed.

This would certainly be a good opportunity to enter an enhancement request under Help>Web Resources>Submit Enhancement Requests.

Idea #2:  A Drop-down List Box custom field is certainly a viable option and would eliminate the possibility of incorrect spelling.

Custom fields can be confusing. How they should work:

1.When you create a custom field it is stored in a dictionary file within the company folder. In this case, since it would be on the PJ Job table, the file written to will be the pjm.dct.

2.When you close out of the window after creating the custom field, you will be prompted to update the PJ master file.

3.When you upgrade this file  it the writes the addition you made to the pjm.dct in the DICT folder in the application data folder and you will get a message stating that you must run upgrade files from TS-Main>Tools>Upgrade Files to make these new fields available to other companies.

4.When you run the upgrade files, we will then write that addition from the pjm.dct in the DICT folder to the other pjm.dct files in each company that is updated.

Note: This means that the custom fields are global. The same custom fields available in one company should also be available in another. In this case, the pjm.dct should essentially be a duplicate of the pjm.dct in each company folder.

When you upgrade to the latest version:

1.The new dictionary file from the installation replaces the existing dictionary in the DICT folder. Customizations from the old dictionary are merged into the new dictionary and this new dictionary file is now in the current version.

2.When you run upgrade files on the data (same as step 4 above) the new version of the dictionary from the DICT folder replaces the dictionary file in each company folder that the upgrade is run on.

Another idea: Some customers have simplified the data entry making data entry error less likely. For example, instead of typing out “Commercial” in the Type field, you could simply enter “C”. To make your reporting more user-friendly you could replace PJ-Type field with a formula creating your description. Ex. IF(Type(PJ Job)=”C”,”Commercial”,””)

Casey Knapp

Senior Customer Support Analyst, Sage Construction and Real Estate